Russia will help Ukraine move the front line in Donbas by 15 km

The Russian military forces, which strangely went unnoticed by the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry in Soledar, feel themselves at home

Photo: Reuters

Over the weekend, representatives of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and Russia held a meeting with representatives of the self-proclaimed Donbas republics to discuss the creation of a 30-kilometer cease-fire zone. At the meeting, Ukraine offered to delegate administrative power to it and declared its determination to withdraw its troops from the zone immediately after similar steps are taken by the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) and the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR). At the same time, to the dissatisfaction of representatives of the unrecognized republics, the Russian delegation supported Kyiv’s position regarding a rapid cease-fire.

Russian personnel

The working group of the Joint center formed to resolve the issue of a cease-fire and gradual stabilization of the demarcation line in the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts began work on Friday in Soledar (Donetsk oblast). Representatives of the press service of the ATO reported that the Ukrainian delegation was headed by Deputy Chief of the General Staff Lieutenant General Yuriy Dumanskiy and the group also included representatives of the OSCE monitoring mission. The main surprise was the appearance of a large delegation of the Russian military under the leadership of Deputy Commander of Russia’s Land Forces Lieutenant General Aleksandr Lentsov. Despite this, the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry officially denied participation of its military in the meeting of the working group.

Press Secretary of the OSCE Special Observation Mission to Ukraine Michael Botsyurkiv told Capital that the group discussed the issue of division of the 30-kilometer cease-fire zone into five sectors in which representatives of the OSCE will work. «We welcome the beginning of a substantive dialogue between the two sides. The OSCE is ready to create monitoring missions, though we are still anxiously waiting for details of the results of negotiations between the working groups,» said Botsyurkiv.

Dumanskiy says in Soledar the parties discussed the cease-fire, the withdrawal of artillery and the withdrawal of Ukrainian military units and illegal armed formations to the «lines specified and agreed to by our presidents». He noted that representatives of the Armed Forces of Russia, who took part in the meeting of the working group, were to travel to Donetsk to persuade the illegal armed groups to cease fire and start fulfilling the terms of the Minsk memorandum. «A two-day silence will be declared during this time. If it is not broken, the consecutive withdrawal of the parties’ units to the agreed frontiers will begin,» Dumanskiy was quoted as saying to the press service of the Defense Ministry.

Secret meeting

Yesterday, representatives of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) stated that they knew nothing about the outcome of the negotiations in Donetsk. At the same time, according to Capital’s sources, a meeting between the Russian military and representatives of the DPR and the LPR was held on Saturday night in Horlivka. Negotiators met in the main building of the Stirol plant on the outskirts of the town. This location was chosen by representatives of the DPR. The choice of the facility may be due to the fact that it allowed the Ukrainian delegation headed by Dumanskiy to arrive to negotiations quietly.
Former Chief of the General Staff Anatoliy Lopata confirmed that the meeting in Horlivka was held, though he refused to disclose its details. Capital’s source in the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said the official subject of the meeting was the exchange of prisoners of war, which has of late become an extremely difficult process. Despite this, the Ukrainian delegation had other informal tasks. «By the order of President Petro Poroshenko we started testing the waters before signing the Law On the Special Status of the Territories. The Defense Ministry plans to withdraw troops from the 15 km zone, if the Russians are the first to move and cease fire. We have also suggested that administrations in the buffer zone remain under the scrutiny of the Ukrainian government as it was before the war broke out, but there will also be some monitoring groups from the OSCE,» said the source.

The source says the Russian military came into contact with Ukrainian negotiators and is in favor of a cease-fire. «Despite the rotation carried out by the Russian army in the last few days in the Donbas region, their General Staff has no desire to fight during the impending winter,» said the source, adding that for now the parties exchanged proposals, though no agreement was reached.

Another source of the publication close to negotiators in Horlivka said that Lentsov’s tough stance on the necessity of a cease-fire was unexpected for the representatives of the DPR and the LPR. In comments for Russian television following negotiations Lentsov said the sides involved in the conflict managed to find a common ground on a number of issues. «There are some issues of concern, those which we will address in the process of preparations for the implementation of the memorandum. But the most important task for us to resolve is a cease-fire and the suspension of hostilities,» said Lentsov.

Yesterday, the NSDC also noted the progress in negotiations between the working groups from Ukraine, Russia, the OSCE and representatives of the self-proclaimed republics. Moreover, the NSDC accused some strangers, which do not submit to the LNR and the DNR, of shelling Ukrainian law enforcers. «There are some groups that are not subject to any authority and act at their own discretion — those formations shoot at our positions,» said Head of the Information and Analytical Center at the NSDC Andriy Lysenko at a briefing.

Lopata believes that Kyiv’s statement comes from its desire to proceed with the negotiation process.